Midnight Mystery OneShots
by qwanderer
Summary: Everything from crack to lemons. Self-contained chapters in my Midnight Mystery universe whenever I think them up. FrostIron slash, blue!Loki, Avenger!Loki. 1: A crack discussion of Buffy. 2: my first attempt at citrus. 3: A memorable birthday. 4: a moment between Pepper and Loki. 5: Sci-fi goodness. 6: Tony visits Helheim. 7: Tower dynamics through Bruce's eyes. 8: Clint & Tasha.
1. Scooby Gang

**The Scooby Gang**

"My Willow! My Anya!"

Tony sat down in the middle of the couch and put his arms around Pepper and Loki.

"How is the scooby gang?"

"We should never have let Tony watch Buffy," Bruce said.

Tony snorted. "You keep using that word 'let,' and it just doesn't apply to me."

"Wait," said Clint. "So that makes you Xander? I assumed you would want to be someone...well...cool."

"'Course I'm Xander. Xander gets all the best lines _and_ the hot thousand-year-old Scandinavian ex-villain."

"And he's jealous of everyone else's superpowers," Pepper pointed out. "And Willow is always doing his homework for him." Pepper poked Tony in the shoulder.

"Okay, enough about me," said Tony quickly. "Let's compare Thor to Buffy for a while."

Clint laughed. "Oh, that's just too easy."

Bruce frowned. "But then who does Cap get to be?"

"Riley, of course," Tony said like it was obvious, which it was.

Natasha sighed and said she supposed she was Faith, then Jarvis called down from the ceiling to claim Giles.

"Okay, but what about Bruce?" Clint asked.

"He's Angel, obviously," said Natasha.

Everyone stared at her. Then Bruce smiled that painfully edged smile he had sometimes, and nodded at her in agreement.

"I don't see it," Clint complained. "You're not exactly an expert on sneaking up on people and making girls swoon."

"Stop being a whiny bitch or we'll make you Cordelia," Widow threatened him with a smile.

"Let me put it this way," Bruce said to Clint. "What do you think almost happened the last time I had a chance at being 'truly happy'?"

Clint's eyes widened. "Oh, God." Then he looked disturbed. "Shit, man, I've never been so glad to be a normal human. But I have to go bleach my brain now."

He left, and they all agreed he was to be called Cordelia from then on.


	2. Fire Ensconced in Ice

**Fire Ensconced in Ice**

Tony wants to bash his head against the bench.

He's tinkering with a new weapon in his workshop. He is so close to a breakthrough here but he just can't find a way to guarantee the stability of this system while in flight in the suit. He has had four hundred and fifty-two ideas (he counted) and all of them are either insufficient or require heavy machinery even he can't miniaturize.

Four hundred and fifty-three. That one doesn't even make any sense, though. His brain is starting to spit out complete garbage, he isn't getting anywhere, but he can't stop thinking about this.

When he gets in this mood there isn't one single sight in the world better than a glass of something strong developing frost under those cold blue fingers. He takes the glass from the hand stretching over his shoulder and sits back. Those fingers glide over his forehead and temples, sliding into his hair, and that is the only thing he has found that stops his brain from overheating. The slight shiver that runs through him is like a new breath of life, like waking up from a nightmare.

He's overclocked by nature and by lack of nurture. When you're trying to please Howard Stark, there's no such thing as a reasonable place to stop. Now cold hands are rubbing at his neck, and he relaxes back into it, taking a sip of whatever is in the glass. It's a peaty scotch that tastes like frozen fire. Tony doesn't usually chill his scotch but right now this is perfect, this is exactly what he wants. Tongue going numb but still tasting smoke and burning with alcohol.

"You are the gracious god of enablers," he tells Loki.

"Then worship me."

The frost giant's breath tickles his ear. He's suddenly a bit lightheaded and he wonders if Loki's doing magic on him, some trippy octarine shit, because it can't be the alcohol already. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that he hasn't eaten since lunch what he's pretty sure was yesterday now. In any case he puts the glass down on his workbench, then tilts his head back to look up at the burning red eyes hovering above him in the sea of blue that is Loki's face.

He means to say something, do something, but he is caught up again by those eyes, those eyes that take in everything that is Tony, just swallowing him whole.

Loki smiles in amusement. He's resting his forearms on Tony's shoulders now, face hovering upside down inches above the human's. He moves his lips to touch Tony's.

Tony's stopped floating now, he's very much back inside his skin as he buries himself in the god's cool, smooth, wet mouth. It's not the most dignified worship but Loki seems to appreciate it. Then they're sucking at each other's bottom lips; soon the kiss won't be enough, and Tony's suddenly very aware that he wants to be somewhere other than his workshop.

"Let's get out of here," he manages to gasp.

The teleport takes him and releases him, and he's sitting on the edge of the bed in the dim, calm light of the bedroom. Loki is kneeling behind him, teeth exploring his neck, one hand coming around to unbutton his shirt. But now that they're here, the mania has left Tony's head and he's no longer in quite such a rush. He shifts around to face Loki.

"My own personal god." He cups Loki's face with a hand and brings their mouths together again, the kiss slower and deeper this time, Tony giving it all his attention. Their tongues battle, Tony pressing into Loki, then abruptly giving just a bit under the force of Loki's cooler tongue. This surprises a moan out of the frost giant.

"You keep saving me. Every day you save me." Now Tony is unbuttoning Loki's shirt, and speaking into his ear. "Tell me, what can I do to thank you?"

Once his shirt is out of the way, Loki lies back on the bed, pulling Tony down on top of him. Tony dives in between the blue lips once more and this time his whole body is engulfed in Loki, skin against skin at their chests and Loki's arms pulling him closer, the cool strong fingers sinking into the muscles of Tony's back, pulling him in like a gravity well of want. Loki is a god, and he wants Tony. This is an irresistible force.

One of Tony's hands finds its way between their chests, thumbing Loki's nipple before sliding down his ribs to the soft sensitive skin of his stomach, and the god gasps. Loki's hands move lower in response, one sliding into the back of Tony's jeans to grip his ass and pull them together in a way that has them both gasping. Tony quickly rolls off to the side to facilitate the removal of pants, only now breaking their kiss; but Loki is impatient now and both their pants disappear in an instant. Loki's hands are on him and breathing seems too complicated, so instead he wraps the fingers of one hand in Loki's hair and pulls his face close, not kissing this time but merely looking into those burning eyes.

Their hands slide over each other in turn and soon their bodies are crashing together again. Tony's senses and emotions narrow to a point, feeling bright and smothered, consuming and consumed, like a flame that is devouring all the oxygen in the space around it, savoring every last atom, growing smaller, tighter, quieter, more breathless, until there is nothing left.

This is peace.

Cool blue arms around him, cool breaths gently slowing in his ear, cool skin under his fingers as they lie together. The cool and calculating brain has warmed under his touch, and the once-burning eyes are closed now. In this stillness there is a reprieve for each of them from all their faults, madness, compulsions. Here there is peace.

* * *

.

* * *

A/N: This was my first attempt to write any sort of citrus and I had a really hard time with it. I'm surprised I got so far before going completely vague. But anyway I think I like the way it turned out. Primarily poetical and secondarily pretty hot.


	3. Birthday Gift

**Birthday Gift**

Neither of them were inclined to remember birthdays.

Loki had never known his own birthday. It was not a custom celebrated on Asgard, and if he had been told the day of his birth, it would have been a guess, since the people who had claimed to be his parents had actually found him abandoned.

The only reason Tony remembered his birthday was that Pepper always made sure to remind him, and plan something appropriate. Tony did like an excuse to throw a party. However, last year, she had not allowed him one of his typical shindigs, because, a) the disaster of a party the year before when he had believed he was going to die (the mansion had been completely rebuilt quite enough times now), and b) the two of them were dating at the time, and maybe Pepper had been feeling neglected, because she insisted on a quiet night in, and had done enough dirty talking not only to get him to agree, but also to keep his attention on her for most of the night.

This was the first year in memory that Tony had enough real friends that he felt no desire to surround himself with casual acquaintances and beautiful strangers. So they had a medium sized party, a lot like the housewarming party, except there was a cake made to look like Iron Man and there was a pile of presents for him.

"I don't see anything from you," he mentioned to Loki, looking at the pile of presents. When did he start getting presents from people? He was rich, he was supposed to buy things for other people. "Don't know what to get the man who already has everything he could ever think to ask for?" Tony's hand snaked around Loki's waist as he said this.

"My present is downstairs in your workshop. You are under no circumstances to go and find it until after the party. Your guests would never see you."

Tony's brown eyes sparkled. "Is that so? That's quite the claim."

"Please." Loki smiled and shook his head. "There's danger of that if you set foot in your workshop at all."

It was the best birthday party. There was tortellini from Tony's favorite restaurant, which didn't usually cater. There was terrible singing and then Loki handed Tony his own head on a plate, which was kind of creepy even though it was just cake and fondant in the shape of Iron Man's helmet. Loki went around the buffet a couple of times, keeping the ice cream from melting and getting another scoop of strawberry while he was there.

There weren't any candles. Tony told everyone he'd given up aging. Only Loki knew that it was literally true. One golden apple wouldn't return a person to youth, but it would cause them to stop aging for a while.

After everyone else had gone, Loki told Tony it was about time he went and found his present.

"Aren't you going to come watch me open it?"

"Nope. Have fun." Loki smiled evilly.

Tony's face was amused and thoughtful. But mostly ravenously curious.

"This is the polar opposite of last year's birthday...but somehow still hotter." He kissed Loki, then clattered down the stairs to his workshop.

In the middle of the nearest workbench was an unfamiliar device. It was a flat rectangle, slightly narrower than an iPad.

There was a glowing screen across the bottom third. In the middle were two keypads, one with numbers and one with unfamiliar symbols, probably runes. In between these was a camera.

The top third was nothing but a frame. Tony picked up the device and stuck his fingers through it and wiggled them.

There were several glowing indicators, and also a switch on the side. As Tony turned the device to look at the switch, he saw that it was labeled.

"MAGIC" and "MORE MAGIC."

Tony laughed.

The switch was currently in the "MAGIC" position, so Tony immediately switched it to "MORE MAGIC." The screen went dark, as did all but two of the indicators, a blue-white one immediately below the switch, and an orange one near the keypad labeled with runes.

"Jarvis, what's this thing do?"

The AI replied, "I have been given very strict instructions not to give you any hints, Sir."

Tony laughed. "All right, then. What are the rules of the game?"

"You are to discover the two main functions of the device, and locate its power source. You may use any purely mechanical tool or any tool that does not require electrical power of its own."

"Jarvis, do I _own_ a non-amplified multimeter?"

"No, Sir."

"All right." Tony rubbed his hands together lightly. "I think I remember how to build one."

A couple of hours in, he'd opened the thing up and taken most of the parts out, and eliminated some circuitry elements that seemed to be red herrings. He'd found a button battery which powered the key pad marked with runes, but when the switch was in the "MAGIC" position, that battery would be disconnected. So what was powering the screen?

Finally, he was reduced to disassembling every part. There was just the casing, the switch and a couple of wires left. The screen was dark, and the LEDs...except the blue-white one next to the switch. Tony cut the wires attached to it.

It kept glowing.

He took tweezers and pulled it free of the casing, holding it up to look at it more closely.

"Holy. Cow."

He held it under a magnifier.

"That is not a diode."

He turned it around slowly.

"Jarvis. What _is_ this?"

"I'm sorry, Sir, but I cannot assist you until you find the two main functions of the device."

"Oh right. That means I have to put it back together, doesn't it."

"Yes, Sir."

"Permission to use the soldering iron?"

"I believe we can allow you an exception."

"Huh. Good to know who's in charge in this place."

Tony reassembled the thing and flipped the switch back to "MAGIC." The screen lit up again, and he tapped it. It was displaying what looked like the basic operating system for the Starkphone. There was one number in the address book. He hit "call."

Loki answered in video chat. "Took you long enough. Did you decide to go after the power source first?"

"Did you seriously invent a _miniaturized_ miniaturized arc reactor?"

"Yes and no," replied Loki. "When I repaired the Bifrost, I took the opportunity to obtain some seed crystals, so that I could grow my own dimensional artifacts in the same manner. Dimensional artifacts can be modified to produce electricity, similar to the way electrical artifacts can be drawn on for biological magic." He smiled, his red eyes looking slightly sinister. "Think of it as a very tiny version of the Tesseract."

"You need to patent this, like, right now. Tonight. You'll be a billionaire in your own right by next Tuesday. Lemme call Pepper."

"Tony, it's four in the morning. Give it a few hours."

"You lie. Jarvis, what time is it?"

"It is indeed four oh-two, Sir."

"Oops. Loki, did I wake you?"

Loki glared at Tony with a smothered smile. "When I put a plot into motion, I make sure I am prepared for all possible outcomes. I brought a book." Loki held up the seventh Harry Potter book so that it was in the video feed.

Tony grinned. "Well, I've gotten two answers out of three. Want to give me a hint with the last one? I don't really know my runes."

"Just hold down the top left button. I am getting impatient to give you your other presents." Loki smirked at him and hung up.

Tony flipped the switch to "MORE MAGIC" and held down the top left button on the rune keypad. The air in the empty frame sort of fizzled, and he was looking at Loki again.

"Hey, it's you again. Wow, magically clear picture?"

"Not exactly," Loki grinned. "Have you read _Charlie and the Chocolate Factory_?"

"I've seen both movies, does that count?"

"Good enough." Loki reached out of the frame to get something. "Here is your second present." Loki lifted a bar of chocolate and extended it through the frame.

Tony's eyes bugged out, and his mouth broke into a tremendously wide grin. He took the chocolate out of Loki's hand, his fingers brushing the cool blue ones as he did.

"Television chocolate!" he exclaimed. "Best birthday present ever!"

Tony's smile was contagious. "Yes, yes," said Loki. "Of course. Now get up here. Your god requires worship."

Tony kept the device in front of him as he walked out of the lab. "So what's the range on these things? The power source seems pretty small to do something like this."

Loki rolled his eyes. "The Tesseract is barely more than three inches to a side and it can create a fifty foot portal to the other end of the galaxy. These should be able to make contact with each other from anywhere on Earth, and probably from the Earth to the moon without a boost. If I connect my arc reactor and use its magic, I should be able to call you from Asgard."

"I'm hearing a 'but' in there. I can't call you with mine? Could we fix that?"

"Darling, I'd rather you _didn't_ have an arc reactor that can be co-opted for purposes other than producing the electricity that keeps you alive."

Tony nodded, conceding the point.

"So, what happens if I do this?"

Tony turned his device upside down. He could see Loki smiling at him, right in front of him and seeming to defy gravity.

"How does that work?"

"Portal physics. Gravity changes direction at the plane of the device. Everything else is continuous."

Tony walked into their room, where Loki was sitting up against the headboard. He looked back and forth between the upside down Loki and the right side up Loki.

"This is too cool."

"Are we going to talk tech all night or are we going to play?"

Tony grinned. "Who says we can't do both?"


	4. Pepper

A/N: The bulk of this segment happens directly after the bulk of Chapter 8 of Better Mischief Through Science.

* * *

**Pepper**

It took a while for Pepper to come around to accepting the Loki/Tony thing.

When Pepper had broken things off with Tony, she had stopped taking care of him, but she had never stopped taking care of his company. When Loki began wandering around the tower, Pepper had avoided him, but when Tony realized all he had to do to avoid paperwork was stick close to his slightly homicidal new boyfriend, that became impractical. She switched to tolerating Loki's presence but refusing to speak to him.

The first time Pepper conspicuously and stiffly ignored Loki's greeting, Tony opened his mouth to call her on it, but Pepper pulled out that Look that she used only when it was very important that Tony shut up. Tony knew and respected that look. Tony shut up.

Then there was the silver apple incident.

Pepper had been watching the news, as she did whenever Tony was doing something spectacularly dangerous, stupid, or both. The footage of Loki's apparent death loomed large in her memory as the Avengers returned to the tower. Then Loki walked in with the others, healthy, blue and smiling. Pepper walked right up to him and slapped him across the face.

"Don't you _ever_ do anything like that again," she said fiercely, tears starting in her eyes. "Tony cares about you too much."

"I know," he said simply, returning her serious look. Then his mouth quirked. "Besides, Tony knew the plan."

"It was _supposed_ to be a _backup_ plan. You didn't give Plan A much of a chance," Tony said, sliding up next to Loki and throwing a possessive arm over the slightly higher shoulders.

"I seized the moment. Besides, Plan A was merely meant to distract our opponent, and you, from my real plan. I was confident that it would work."

"On that subject," Tony said angrily, "How does a magical apple determine whether something is true love or not? Because to me, that seems awfully unscientific to stake your life on."

"Magic as old as golden and silver apples...just works," said Loki.

"You don't _know?_" Tony gaped at Loki. "And you gambled everything on what? A theory that I would be able to wake you up? a _feeling?_"

"When it comes to silver apples, true love means merely real love. Nothing as frightening or abstract as destiny." Loki took a step towards Tony. "I'm a sorcerer. I gamble on the effectiveness of magic every day. I knew it would work."

Tony contemplated him for a moment, and then shook his head. "I agree with Pepper. Don't do it again."

"I don't plan on it, but if you insist, next time I won't save the world. We'll run away together and watch it burn."

"I insist," said Tony, and kissed him, passionately and extensively.

"Eew! You guys! That is so weird!" Pepper interrupted them loudly.

"Really? You didn't say anything the last time I kissed a guy in front of you. And there were a lot less clothes involved then."

Pepper pursed her lips contemplatively. "Yes, but that wasn't..._romantic._" She infused the word with a sort of bewildered fascination.

Tony frowned. "I'm _always_ romantic."

Pepper snorted with sudden laughter. "I guess you could call it that."

Loki, with Tony's arms still around him, spoke up then. "He _is_ always romantic. To someone who appreciates intelligence and power."

"No, Loki," said Pepper. "He's romantic whenever _you're_ around." She sighed. "I'm going to have to admit it, aren't I? You two are good together."

They both beamed at her, which was...really quite disconcerting.

"Okay, I have to go...look at columns of numbers for a while." She pointed at Loki. "But at some point? We need to talk."

"I couldn't agree more."

Pepper left the Avengers to celebrate their victory.


	5. Arc Pods and Moon Bases

**Arc Pods and Moon Bases**

Loki was a billionaire by Tuesday.

It turned out he didn't really need a patent, since the methods he used could not be reproduced except by another sorcerer. He would have to do any manufacturing personally.

He had streamlined the process of building the tiny "arc pods" until he could grow 200 dimensionally active crystals simultaneously in 20 minutes. Jarvis and robotics did the rest.

Pepper did the research and went over the numbers, suggesting an initial price of $1,000 each. Even without investment outside of access to Stark R&D, he would become a billionaire well before he put in ten hours of manufacturing time.

"You could charge more," she had said. "The market would take it. There's nothing else like these, and a thousand years of studying sorcery ought to count for something." Pepper smiled at him, businesslike but friendly.

"Money," Loki said, and shrugged. "I want for nothing but the chance to watch the world change under my guiding hand."

"You know, you may be an Avenger in good standing now but you're still pretty creepy," Pepper said.

"What Avenger isn't, from time to time?" Loki smirked.

"Steve."

Loki nodded. "And he's the only one."

"What about Thor?"

"Some time you should get him to tell you about the time he had to dress in drag to get Mjolnir back."

Pepper frowned thoughtfully with a hint of 'eugh.' "Okay, granted. You're still the creepiest."

He grinned at her. "Why, thank you, Miss Potts. I'd hate to think I was losing my touch."

* * *

Arc pods set up to produce electricity would be easy to market. It was basically the equivalent of a tiny battery that never needed to be charged. They could be put into cell phones, laptops, all kinds of emergency equipment. Half the first run was left as is, to be put into other people's tech (mostly Tony's), and the other was put into simple wall socket connection units.

But electronics were just the beginning.

Malls and other large complexes could buy dimensional units for heating and cooling. Loki designed arrays of windows to be set up in Antarctica and the Sahara to dial for the appropriate air temperature. The military was looking into purchasing portable units for the transfer of emergency supplies. Tony was helping him work on a unit which would take water from an array on the ocean floor, and then switch to electrical mode to run the water through a desalination filter made of nanotube membranes.

Each array's electronics was run by one more arc pod, and each portable bridging unit contained a small battery that could be recharged by switching its pod into electrical mode. It was all very practical, solutions to every problem on Midgard springing to mind whenever one was brought forth for consideration.

The thing Tony couldn't get out of his mind was the phrase Loki had used in describing the range of the bridging devices. "...Probably from the Earth to the moon without a boost," he had said.

Well, Tony was just dying to try that out.

He drew up all the specs and plans. First he would set up a research facility, build a medium-sized arc reactor to power it like the one in Stark Tower.

Then, to make it a viable business investment, he would make a moon hotel.

He asked Pepper, and she told him that according to the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, he would have to submit a proposal to the UN and wait for them to approve it. "And no using your super secret moon base for testing or developing anything even vaguely resembling a weapon," she admonished. "That could get you into big trouble."

"Well, we'd better get the proposal sent in, I'm already halfway done my first robot," he said. "Does the UN like me today?"

It turned out they did, because they approved his proposal in less than a month. Of course, by then, Tony's robots were already on the moon working away. Tony was allergic to paperwork and waiting for it to go through had made him all itchy.

The first robot he sent up was bare bones, light enough to launch itself into lunar orbit using one of the palladium based reactors and containing not much more than a bridging unit and a tiny airlock. The first collapsible robot he shoved into the airlock was the beginning of the real construction equipment.

Every time he dialed his moon unit, the airlock filled up with a "shoop" noise. Tony found this thrilling and may have done it more times than necessary.

Tony requested four slightly larger arc pods from Loki, promising he would guard them like his own reactors, seeing as they were just as powerful. The larger pods had no electrical mode. One of them he attached to a specially made doorway in his workshop. A second he sent off to the moon to be part of a corresponding assembly there. And once the first room on his super secret moon base was finished and pressurized, he stepped through that doorway.

He took his birthday present with him. He set it to "MORE MAGIC" and pressed the top left rune.

When he saw Loki he grinned. "Hey, hon. Guess where I'm calling from?"

"Your super secret moon base?" Loki asked, looking bored.

"Hey, unlike you, I've never stood on a celestial body that wasn't Earth. So can you let me have my moment?"

"Yes, yes, your tiny gray box on the moon is very impressive. Get back down here so I can congratulate you properly."

"Rough audience," he said. "Fine, I won't invite you up here. I'll play in my new sandbox all by myself."

"Tony."

"Josh."

Loki's mouth quirked at that. "If I wanted to come up there it's not like you could stop me."

"Oh yeah? Prove it."

The connection broke, and instantly Loki had teleported to his side. "I am here. What is so exciting about this box of air?"

Tony picked up Loki and tossed him in the direction of the ceiling.

Loki, drifting slowly downwards, unwillingly began to chuckle.

"I suppose the place does have some qualities worth exploring."


	6. Helheim Keep

A/N: This story contains my own take on Hel, and you may want to read my mythic prequel story, Princesses of Asgard, before this one. This should be quite comprehensible on its own but contains spoilers for the other story.

Also, since people have been asking, I'm taking myth only as suggestion and not canon. My version of Loki has carried no children. He may have magically constructed a few but Hel is his only biological child.

* * *

**Helheim Keep**

"Now where is that book? I had a copy...oh, yes. I gave it to my daughter."

Tony spat his coffee everywhere. "What was that?"

"It has been too long since I have visited my daughter."

"You have a kid? You didn't say anything. She'd be welcome to visit here, you know. I get the impression you're not quite ready to go back to Asgard for that big family reunion."

"No," Loki said, inclining his head and giving Tony a small smile. "But Hel does not live on Asgard, nor is she able to visit Earth. She cannot leave Helheim Keep."

Tony looked thoughtful. "Now that I think of it, Thor once mentioned being Hell's uncle. I thought it was a joke."

"It is amusing how you have come to use her name. Her realm is cold, and no one who travels there is already dead."

"But she..." Tony shook his head. "No. Hang on. I'm still trying to get over the part where you have a daughter and _you never told me._"

"I have lived for a thousand years or so. That makes for a great deal of important things to convey about my past. Hel never came up."

"Okay, any other kids, marriages, attempts to take over planets I should know about?"

"I was married to Hel's mother at the time. Hel's...unique condition came between us."

"She's unique? Of course your daughter's unique. Is she healthy?"

"That is an especially complex question to answer. By no stretch of the imagination does she have a functioning body, but as long as she stays within Helheim Keep, her existence is satisfactory and she is safe."

"And, uh. You were married."

"It was eight hundred years ago. It was an arranged marriage. It turned out that we were not as well suited to each other as my mother...as I...thought. I rarely saw her after Hel was born. It is nothing that need concern you."

Tony looked at Loki's face. "There's more there. It concerns you, so it concerns me. What happened?"

Loki's hand wrapped around the lower half of his face as he recalled that time, contemplated how much to share, and how to explain.

"Do you remember when I was playing the villain, with Jane as my hostage, and I winked at you? I expected to be arrested, to have explanations demanded of me. I expected everything to go wrong again. Instead you lifted your mask, trusting me. Instead you defended me. Instead you kissed me as if nothing had changed. That is the difference between you and Sigyn."

"Things looked bad, and she took the out?" Tony said, and Loki nodded. Tony shook his head. "People accuse _me_ of being all style and no substance. Your daughter was a bit different, and she bailed?"

"She accused me of black magic, of passing on some kind of curse to the child. She fled Asgard in favor of Vanaheim, where she still lives, as far as I know."

"And left you to raise Hel? Pun intended."

"It was her loss. Hel was the sweetest child, and she rules her realm well. I am pleased to have reason to journey there again."

"I'll go with you. If that's all right. I'd like to meet your daughter."

"The journey through Niflheim will not be easy for a human, and you may find Helheim uncomfortable as well."

"Why's that?"

"We will arrive outside the gates, in the wastes of Niflheim, which are intensely cold. I must warn you, it is most likely that when you step inside the gates of Helheim, the arc reactor will cease to function. However, neither will the shrapnel move closer to your heart."

"How can you know either of those things? What's so different about the place?"

"In scientific terms?" Loki gave Tony a flatly significant look and said, "Helheim is a place in which entropy does not function."

Tony's eyes widened. "Doesn't that kind of rule out things like breathing and living?"

"It rather does," Loki said, amused.

"Uh, I hate to break it to you, but I'm not a god. I kind of need my body to function."

"Your body will keep very well," Loki said. "While you are a guest in Helheim, Hel's magic will allow you to move and think, but physically, you will be unchanging from the moment you step inside to the moment you leave."

"This is one of those 'magic just works' situations, isn't it?" Tony groaned. "I'm still not all that comfortable with those."

"Helheim Keep is the safest place in the realms," Loki said. "The worst thing that can happen to you there is absolutely nothing."

* * *

Tony and Loki approached the gates of Helheim. One of Loki's spells kept Tony from feeling the cold, and the only light came from the glow of the arc reactors visible on both their chests.

Loki raised his hand and shot two streams of sparks into the air, one green and one white. The gates swung open. A woman appeared, in a silky gray dress, and one side of her face looked black in the gloom.

She looked at Loki and gasped. "Is that truly you?"

Loki smiled. "Yes, this is me, more truly myself than ever before. It's the most obvious of answers, isn't it, sweetheart? I am a frost giant, and you are a hybrid. I don't know why I never thought of it. I never had much in common with the royal family of Asgard."

Hel looked at the strange but doubly familiar features before her. "You have not much in common with frost giants I have known, either, and one does not tend to suspect one's father of such profound deception. But the real reason is because there is no cure. No others like me have survived." She smiled fondly. "You were blind to any answer that held no hope."

"Perhaps," he said, "and perhaps I was afraid to ask the right questions about myself."

The woman turned her head to Tony, and he saw a familiar red eye looking at him from the dark half of her face.

"And who is this?" she asked.

"Wow," Tony said. "You're as beautiful as your father."

She smiled. "I am something of a connoisseur of first impressions. And that was one of the most interesting that has been made to me."

"This is Tony Stark," Loki said. "He is a human, very influential on Midgard...and my lover."

"Oh!" said Hel, a hand straying near to her mouth. And then after a moment she continued. "I had thought, after what Mother did to you, that you would never trust in such a way again."

"I had thought so as well," said Loki. "After eight hundred years, the revelation of what went wrong, and indulging myself in madness long enough to lead an army against Midgard, I may have finally gotten over it. But it still took an extraordinary man to make me realize that."

She looked at them both with new enthusiasm. "Well, come in!" Hel said. "We have much to speak on."

"Wait a moment," said Loki. He took his green-glowing arc reactor from around his neck, and holding it by the chain, let it pass through the gate. It went dark. He looked to Tony.

"Only Hel's magic works inside the gates. But I swear to you, you will be safe."

Tony blew out a tense breath. "No entropy, huh?" he said. "This'll be new."

Hel created a magical light to float above her head, and then Loki stepped across the threshold, holding out a hand for Tony. The human put his hand in the blue one, and stepped inside.

He looked down at the arc reactor. It was dark. He took stock of his body.

"I'm fairly certain my heart's not beating," he said.

"No, it wouldn't be," Loki replied. "Now come on. I want to see the rest of the latest castle."

They walked through a series of rooms, all shining wood, each with a wall of windows looking out on something that wasn't actually there.

The first was just stars. So many stars.

The second was a dim, mossy forest, dripping with rain.

The third was the cool blue curves of ice caves.

The fourth was underwater, green light filtering through onto alien fish whose scales gleamed with intricate patterns.

"If you're collecting views, I have a suggestion," Loki said.

Tony was distracted by the alien fish as Hel put her dark blue hand to Loki's lighter blue temple. So when they came through the next door into the living room of the Malibu house, he gave a startled laugh. All the lights were out, except for the spot on the painting over the buffet, which was set dim. And, as it was intended, the room highlighted the view.

Loki had given her an image of just after sunset, the clouds glowing orange and the tide rising to near its height. The sound of the waves Loki loved came clearly through the glass.

"Well I did tell Loki you'd be welcome to visit." Tony smiled and gave a slight bow and a flourish. "Welcome to our home."

Hel smiled. "Shall we sit here, then? I would love to take in this new view properly."

They sat on the illusory but real-feeling seats of this counterfeit house.

"I brought you a present, as usual," said Loki, opening his bag. What he drew out was - of course! - the complete Harry Potter, in hardcover.

"Something new and interesting?" she asked.

"The most popular books on Midgard at the moment," he said, "but perhaps, given that, the most interesting thing about them is how much of it is _not_ new. It all comes down to the same old fairy tales."

"Doesn't everything?" she said, smiling. "Will you read them to me?"

Tony tried to restrain a laugh. He really did.

Loki glared at him. "Please, try to recall, darling," and the way he said this word was truly sarcastic, "that the culture my daughter and I were raised in prizes highly the art of storytelling. Speaking a story aloud, artfully, is something every citizen of Asgard is proud to do. It is not, as Midgard has reduced it to, a task reserved only for nursemaids."

Hel turned a mischievous smile on Tony. "Is that how you view things? Perhaps you'd find it less amusing if I resumed my true form?"

"That isn't how you look?" Tony asked, curious now.

"When I came here, I was but a child, and here, nothing changes. Despite my current appearance," she said, and here dropped her glamor, her voice becoming higher, "I'll always be my father's little one."

"Huh," Tony said, as he looked at the thin-looking ten year old figure before him. She had the same face, split between deepest blue and cream, the same piercing red eye on one side.

"But my father is quite right," Hel continued in her new (or old, he supposed. Or young) higher voice. "And if you ever plan on visiting Asgard, this is something you should know. Like Helheim, Valhalla is not truly a place where we know that the dead walk and talk as if they are still alive. Valhalla is instead that time and place where stories are told of the honored dead. If you value your life, you will not, in Asgard, insult the telling of stories."

"Got it," Tony said.

"Now, Hel, I wondered if I might look at one of the books in your library."

"Of course, Father."

He said the name of the book and it appeared in her hand a moment later. Loki settled in to read it. Tony asked Hel about the details of the non-entropic nature of her realm, and then about the world on which the fish in the next room lived.

The view changed slowly, the colors in the sky shading to red and purple. At one point Loki got up to light some candles, catching Hel's eye so that she might change the illusion appropriately. There was a well-practiced dance here, that of apparent host and true host, layered over that of father and daughter.

The subject of discussion turned to Loki.

"Before I settled into this shape," she said, gesturing to her true-but-adult form which she had resumed, "I used to try all kinds of appearances to see what effect they would have on new people, especially those sent here as Grandfather's prisoners. Some of the most frightening shapes were suggestions of Father's that I didn't think would work. But they must have been subtle and uncanny, because the longer the prisoner looked at me the more uncomfortable they got. One of the most memorable was a perfectly normal form with one invisible leg, so that I appeared off balance every time I took a step. I thought it would look merely silly, but Father insisted, and by the end I felt rather sorry for that particular prisoner. Whenever I wake him up he starts and twitches."

Tony was laughing. "Oh, that sounds just like Loki."

Hel smiled a little. "I see he's not shy with his true nature around you. That bodes well, I think, for the two of you. But what does Midgard as a whole think of him?"

"Actually, Loki's supposed to be dead, and on Earth he's known as Midnight Mystery or Joshua Albastru, an alien from an unknown planet. If anyone finds out he came here, it'll be much more obvious who he is."

"It's not a critical deception, but it is an amusing one," Loki said, putting down the book at last. "Some people on Earth see through it, but mostly the so-called 'conspiracy theorists' who are considered mad by the rest of the planet for believing in things like beings from places other than Earth, and wealthy people shaping the world to their whims." Loki smiled ruefully. "People who see more than the average idiot are treated the same way throughout the galaxy."

"All of my subjects are sleeping," she said. "No one is aware of your presence but me, and no one will be."

"Who _are_ your subjects?" Tony asked. "Did you just kind of show up on the planet and take it over? I know your father's liable to do that kind of thing..."

"No, Tony Stark. Niflheim is uninhabitable without me. Nothing grows here. My subjects are wanderers from across the realms, brought here by curiosity or a need to escape true death. And, of course, prisoners sent to me by Odin for safekeeping, and a few special requests of my own. Even one or two from Earth."

"'Special requests?'" Tony laughed. "Don't tell me, alien abductions are real?"

"Come now," said Loki. "I would not be so unsubtle as to leave such quantities of evidence as humans claim to have collected. No, I suspect those are the work of Chitauri and other related species."

"Father did rather botch the disappearance of Nicholas Flamel. He was supposed to be believed dead, but Nick just could not let go of his little reputation." Hel gave Loki an amused look and the hint of a smirk.

Loki continued the story from there. "He was much too much excited about the prospect of his own tomb. He talked about it to anyone who would listen. It was not at all long after I transported him here that it was dug up and found empty." The sorcerer sighed. "I really should have found someone else to bury there."

Tony scowled. "Wait, isn't he a character in Harry Potter?"

Loki chuckled. "Yes, and I'm sure he'll be amused to read about himself. Of course, he gets a rather more flattering interpretation in your literature than I or my daughter have had to tolerate. He never did puzzle out magic, not being a magical species. And yet he and his precious reputation continue."

"Well, a man's reputation means a lot. I don't know that I'll be able to stay away after I'm supposed to be dead." Tony grinned. "And I don't plan on dying anytime soon, now that I know of a couple of outs."

"I like you," Hel said. "I hope you do come here if you ever find yourself dying again. You are one whose knowledge I would preserve and use."

"I'll think about it. Nice place to visit, but literally impossible to live here. Still, next time somebody tells me to go to hell, I'm going to thank them."

Tony held his breath as they walked out of the gates, but his arc reactor came on like turning on a light bulb (incandescent, not CFL) as they passed the walls. He could feel his heart beating steadily but a little faster than usual. The absence of the sensation and of his accustomed glow was strange, but if possible, their return was stranger.

"Does that count as a near-death experience? What is that, five now I've had?" Tony asked Loki.

"No it does _not_ count," Loki insisted as they walked out through the cold stillness of Niflheim. "Centuries-old magic is perfectly reliable. You had a much higher probability of dying from your flirtations with palladium poisoning and various vehicular collisions."

"Statistics aren't really the point here. I'm sticking with just times my heart has stopped beating."

Loki turned slowly to face Tony. "Your heart has stopped beating five times?"

"Lemme see," Tony said, holding up a hand to count. "One. Yinsen told me it happened on the operating table while he was taking out the shrapnel he could find. Two. When I switched out the prototype reactor for the second model, Pepper pulled the electromagnet out early and I was technically in cardiac arrest. Not for long, but still. Three. After Obie stole the second model it took me a couple of minutes to get the first one back in. I wasn't under monitors then but I'm pretty sure from the way I couldn't move or breathe properly. Four. When I went through the portal with that nuke, Jarvis tells me I also went into arrest briefly. Not sure if that was the shrapnel or the being in space without an airtight suit. It was pretty beat up by that point. Anyway, five. Just then, in Helheim. No heartbeat at all and definitely the longest time I've gone without one."

Loki blinked.

"And you trust this technology of yours to keep you alive?" he said eventually.

"It's what I've got," said Tony, "and I understand it. If it doesn't work I can fix it."

Loki put his hands on Tony's shoulders. "I begin to understand why you disliked the silver apple so much," he said. "Let us agree that it would be better to keep both our hearts beating constantly from now on."

"Agreed," said Tony. "But does that mean no more visiting Hel? I liked her. She's got all the best embarrassing Loki stories."

"Technically there is no time within the walls of Helheim Keep, so there was never a time when your heart had stopped."

"A technicality," Tony said, rolling his eyes. "I'm counting these visits in my tally."

"Whatever," Loki said, and transported them home.


	7. The One Who's There

(A/N: Still working on the next chapters of the Darcy story and More Than Heroes but here's a Brucey one-shot to tide you over. Kind of an interlude to show what's been happening around the tower as a whole. Also there's a companion piece to Crystalline Alignment now, which for reasons is only available on AO3 - Crystalline Core, work 589836. Whole URL is in my profile.)

* * *

**The One Who's There**

Bruce is the one who's around, the one who never leaves the tower, the one who's always lurking in the kitchen or the stairwells when he's not in the labs. The times and places, the spaces he seeks out, are often one step back from the others, one pace out of range.

He's seeking out the balance between chaos and loneliness, between knowing he's got an escape route and being able to feel the warmth of the people who live here in the tower. So he seeks out quiet times, lingers in the kitchen to hear the quiet conversations of two or three of the others, agrees to projects that include just a few working together, lurks at the corners of large gatherings, skirts the edge between enough interaction and too much.

So he knows things, knows that Jane quietly disapproves of Darcy's life choices but that it doesn't take away from their thick-as-thieves friendship. Jane is more concerned every time Darcy sleeps with someone new than she was when Darcy "accidentally" gained super powers (Bruce had never really believed that tale). Jane doesn't treat Darcy differently afterwards, even though Darcy now sometimes accidentally transfigures her stuff. Bruce likes Jane even outside of the occasional engrossing conversations about radiation they have in the labs.

Bruce knows how things were awkward for like seven minutes between Darcy and Rhodey after they'd slept together and before they became best bros. How Rhodey had made her coffee and tried to let her down easy before he managed to wrap his head around the concept that Darcy was completely cool with that being a one-time thing. How Rhodes nearly choked on his own drink when she'd told him to loosen up and smacked him on the back, smirking, like she was a female clone of Tony.

He knows how Barton still tenses up whenever Loki/Josh enters a room; he knows that Barton and Romanoff are more than just friends, but not in the usual sense. There's no romance to the way they trust each other completely, solidly, like two stones suspended near the apex of an arch. They don't think, they don't wonder, they just stand back-to-back, granting the other as a sure thing. He doesn't know whether they're sleeping together and somehow it doesn't seem relevant.

He knows that Thor can't tell a lie to save his life, but that he does deceive in his own way, sumoning up enthusiasm and jolliness when others are near but occasionally letting his pain and worry leak through when he thinks the others aren't looking. He knows how hard Jane works to balance everything in her life but that it still leaves Thor feeling like he's waiting for something that will never come.

Bruce knows how Peter is the modern kid who's up on all the gadgets and can almost go toe to toe with Tony when it comes to product design and small-scale engineering, but there are some times when the kid just wants to sit down with a paper crossword puzzle and graphite pencil or something else equally shockingly obsolete, because they remind him of his father. The smell of wood shavings, the texture of paper, bring memories back.

Steve doesn't have a lot of friends or connections in the modern world, and at first there's a lot of times that Bruce comes across him sitting by himself, drawing. But Steve is one of those guys who believes so hard in making the world a better place that he can't keep moping for long. So one day Bruce found him in earnest conversation with Pepper about how the words and actions of public figures can move people to do great things. Steve sold a lot of war bonds in his time and he knows. But he wasn't sure what was most important in the modern world. There were so many causes. Bruce joined them gladly, mentioning a couple of his favorite charities - Doctors Without Borders, Kiva, charity: water - and Pepper helped him figure out the most effective ways to publicize the causes he chose.

So Bruce knows that Steve is always happier when he's got a mission, and he's been happier recently.

Bruce knows that without the labs, without something concrete to do, he'd go crazy.

Crazier.

There's always something to do in the labs, something distracting, fascinating. Tony built them to be that way.

Bruce had been there when Tony was moping around the labs after Pepper had broken it off with him, and the quiet surrounding the usually exuberant man had been startling, and Bruce was the one to tell Jarvis to put on some music (Postal Service, as a compromise between Tony's need for rhythm and Bruce's preference for calm), which startled Tony when he seemed to wake up and ask "Jarvis, what the hell is this crap?" after an album and a half.

Bruce had been there when Tony's fascination with Loki had gone from scientific interest to kinship to more. He hadn't been surprised, not at all. Of course Bruce knows that anything that can think, Tony treats like an equal, and the people who get offended by his attitude are the ones who can't comprehend how much contempt Tony Stark has for himself. Bruce can see, can feel, and relate to that self-loathing, and he knows that Loki can too.

Bruce is there when they start to connect, and when they build each other up, support and heal each other, some of it rubs off on Bruce too. But he's still just a little jealous, because what they've found with each other, he can never have.

He actually feels somewhat parental towards both of them, which, given Loki's age, is frankly bizarre, but he's the one who's there, the one who has to keep careful tabs on emotional currents and good sleeping and eating habits, and if he has to do it for himself, why not them too? And it's not like he's going to get a chance to be a parent in any way that's more real than this.

Bruce has begun to think of these people as his family.

Bruce knows Clint still has that car in his bedroom, the one Loki put there as a joke one night when he and Tony were bored. Clint actually _likes_ Loki, that's been apparent for a while now, from the way he smiles and laughs at the right times when the blue guy is around, but trust has been a bit harder to come by, and although Clint can now put aside his feelings in battle, that little edge still comes across - not just at Loki when he comes into a room, but also Darcy, as the sorcerer's protege, and Bruce, as the man who gave Loki his powers back, and occasionally Tony, as Loki's lover, all get snapped by Barton's nervous energy now and again.

Bruce knows there are some wounds that can never be healed, and he can't bring himself to regret what he did for Loki after all the good it's done for Tony, for the world through Midnight Mystery, arc pods and the moon lab. But still he wishes, though he knows it's a fruitless wish, that it could all go away, that Clint could feel safe here. Could feel at home.

The way Bruce feels at home.


	8. Back To Back

**Back-To-Back**

Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff are partners. They have been for a long time, so they're solid. Their partnership is the solid ground in the mire that is their lives.

It's nothing new to either of them, this distrust of the world, everything in it, and worst of all, themselves. It's nothing new, but it's always going to be terrible. It would be unbearable, if not for the other. They trust each other, and it's great having someone you can always trust, but what's even more essential is having someone who will always trust you.

They live back-to-back because the world hasn't been good to them. It's been slippery and deceptive and treacherous, a labyrinth full of ooze-covered rocks and traps.

Right now they're sitting back-to-back on top of the huge stainless steel refrigerator in the Avengers' common kitchen, eating two halves of the same sandwich - it's got turkey and cheese and lettuce and some kind of spiced marinated vegetable, Clint isn't sure what. But anyway Natasha procured it somewhere and she's eating her half happily enough, so he bites into the triangle in his hand, chewing, thoughtful and contented and relaxed.

There's nobody else who can make him feel at home, not since Coulson.

Not since Loki.

And the only reason he can sit here like this right now and relax in the common rooms is that half the Avengers up and took the Bifrost to go meet Loki's kid on her own planet, or something equally strange. Loki's far away, Thor and Tony and Bruce with him, along with Jane and the newlyweds Steve and Lady Sif. Darcy's been complaining that she's bored and the tower is horribly empty, but Clint likes it this way, just him and Nat and Darcy and Peter.

And Darcy's gotten pretty good at the whole sorcery thing; the number of accidents have dropped off drastically and the number of times she's used her magic to heal him or save him from falling have built up until he can almost relax around her, have fun playing video games or something with the four of them, and almost forget that she's Loki's apprentice and new best buddy.

Peter's a good kid but he's so young; he's only been an Avenger a couple of months now and he still has a tendency to act on his own instead of following Cap's lead.

Well, he's not actually the only one.

Clint likes him.

Cap's solid enough - and Coulson liked him, so that's a plus - but the others...

Well, it all leads back to Loki.

Thor will always have a soft spot for his brother. Tony is in _love_ with the blue bastard, and Clint's never agreed more with Natasha's stance on that. Love is idealistic and blind and _stupid,_ things that will get you killed. Clint can never quite let his guard down around people crazy enough to love Loki.

Loki himself...the blue guy has been a good ally, but there are some things you can't forget.

Bruce is where things get complicated. He's a good guy, he's got sense. He's got...softness without weakness. But he's...Clint doesn't know exactly how to put it. To Bruce, Tony and Loki are _family._

And then there's the fact that Natasha is unequivocally _terrified_ of the Hulk.

Yeah, it's complicated.

Clint sighs.

"Hey, what's up?" Natasha asks him, nudging his shoulder from her perch on the other half of the refrigerator. She's finished her half of the sandwich in the time it's taken him to get through three bites. She smiles ruefully at him, and he smiles unwillingly back.

"D'you trust Bruce?" he asks, before taking another huge bite of his sandwich.

"Well enough," she says. "But that's not really what you want to talk about."

Clint grimaces through his mouthful of turkey sandwich.

"You brought it up, you big baby. So start talking."

Clint swallows his bite, then turns his head fractionally in her direction.

"You remember when we moved in, how Bruce was always ready to run? How careful he was?"

"Yeah." She nods. "I saw it."

He shakes his head, a tiny almost-motion. "I got that. I really got that. But I can't get why _he_ trusts _Loki._"

She turns her head to the side, observing him. "This isn't about me, or Bruce. This is about Loki."

Clint frowns. "No, this... well, maybe." He jams the rest of the sandwich in his mouth to give himself time to think.

He's made his peace with Loki, as best he knows how to. He's never quite gotten to where he thinks he could be with Bruce. He feels... shortchanged.

"How'd he do it?" Clint asks. "How'd Loki get to him so fast? Why did Bruce trust him so easily?"

"Because they're dangerous," Nat says, "and because the universe is full of things that could come back to bite them and people who'd like them gone." She puts a hand on his shoulder and squeezes. "Because they both need someone to trust them, to make life bearable."

Clint squeezes his eyes shut. "Shit. Ok," he says. "Ok. I can respect that."

"But?" she asks.

She knows him better than he knows himself, sometimes.

"But if that's what that is...and I want to get past it..." He rubs one hand over his neck anxiously. "Then maybe you're right. Maybe this is about me and Loki."

He sighs again.

"So what do I do about that?"

They sit, back-to-back, in silence for a while.

"Coffffeeeee..." comes a voice from the kitchen below.

One thing Clint respects about Darcy is that she's observant, and she doesn't forget to look up.

After she gets her coffee, and she's cradling it in her hands and slurping it luxuriously, she glances up and says, "Hey guys."

"You do know it's past noon, right?" Clint asks.

"Caffeine addiction does not adhere to a set schedule. Also, I was up all night on Tumblr. They're still grieving the tragic death of Captain America's virginity."

Clint snorts.

"They all want to know if you two are together, too. I've been trying to figure it out, which I'm usually good at, but I just _can't tell._ You two are driving me insane with this whole 'more-than-best-buds' thing you have going. So I'm just going to ask. Is there sex? Or no?"

The assassins glance at each other.

"Why does it matter?" Natasha says, her inflection giving nothing away.

Darcy looks at them with narrowed eyes.

"You do it on purpose, don't you? Being inscrutable. It's all a conspiracy. A 'drive-Darcy-absolutely-bonkers-wondering' conspiracy."

Clint says nothing, but leans back slightly so his shoulder is resting against Tasha's again. He smiles, enigmatic and amused.

Darcy makes a face at him.

He takes pity on her...sort of. "I don't suppose you'd believe me if I said it actually doesn't matter?"

"Nope," she says. "Not for a second. Plus, what would that even mean? Sex _always_ matters. It matters to the _fans._ We need to know if you two are available, so we can have our daydream delusions in the confidence that they're remotely possible." She bobs her head in agreement with herself as she rummages in the refrigerator for cream cheese. Then she looks hard at him again. "So what's the word? Are you on the lookout for someone to share your huge, lonely, superhero-y bed? Or are you taken care of?"

Clint just chuckles quietly and shakes his head. "Those are the only two options?"

Natasha turns her head to whisper in his ear. It doesn't even matter what she's saying; the joke is in the motion, in its look, in its possible interpretations. Clint's body shakes with the laughter, and Tasha, against him, is laughing too.

Darcy slams the refrigerator door with frustrated indignation, and it vibrates under them.

"Fine, keep your secrets," she says, but she can't stay angry with them and smirks up at their quiet laughter. "Maybe when Peter gets back from school I can pry more Spiderman love life gossip out of him."

Back-to-back with Tasha, Clint feels at home. That's all he needs; that's all that matters. He doesn't think he could begin to explain that to Darcy. So he doesn't try.

* * *

"You vouched for Loki. When we went to Asgard. I thought you and he were okay."

Clint sits scrunched up in the corner of the sofa in Tasha's rooms. Clint likes to observe people and learn about them. He's less comfortable with people observing him, learning about him. But the only one here is Tasha. So he scrunches down like a frightened animal.

He takes the hot cocoa she hands him, absently turning the mug in his hands before sipping it and putting it down.

"We are," he says eventually. "He's a good ally. I like him. I don't have a problem working with him."

"So what's bothering you?" she asks, sitting next to him, taking his hand in hers and rubbing the back of it comfortingly with her thumb.

"I miss Phil," he says.

Tasha's hand tightens around his briefly.

"It's all right if you don't forgive him," she said. "Loki took so much from you, and if you're not okay with that, no one can blame you."

He screws his eyes shut.

"Every time I wake up, Tasha. Every time I wake up I remember waking up on the Helicarrier, thinking about everything I did, everything he made me do. Everything I helped him do."

She doesn't fill the silence with anything but her presence, comforting, encouraging.

"I thought time would fix it. And it's getting better, it is. It's just... two years, Nat. Two years, and every time Loki so much as coughs, I'm on alert. It's tiring."

"I can't help you with that," Natasha says, and she sounds ever so slightly lost. "I'm always on alert. With all of them."

"Everyone?"

"Everyone except you."

He smiles, glad to be whatever he is to her. "You're my touchstone, too," he says. "Partner. Trust you like I trust my bow. You keep me balanced. That's why I need to know how you feel about Bruce."

"Clint, what is this about? Really?" She looks to him, piercingly.

He takes a minute, figuring out how to phrase this. "If I found someone else, what would you do? Because you know I won't leave you in the lurch. But I'm tired of being afraid."

"What are you talking about."

"Natasha, how do you feel about Bruce, because I need to be your safe place, no matter who else I trust."

She looks at him, eyes wide and maybe a little blank as she processes. "You don't just want to work better with Bruce. You want..." She was lost for words.

"I want to start feeling at home in more places than here." He gestures between them, indicating both her rooms and the space that exists between the two of them.

"Why Bruce?" she asks.

Clint looks at her, squinting a little. "I'm not sure," he says. "All I know is he's... not soft, he understands the world, but he still feels warm, like family. I don't know, does that make sense?"

"Yeah, I think it does," she says, giving him a look that isn't quite a smile, but reads like one to him. "I'll tell you what I think about Bruce, then," she says. "He can't be manipulated. He can't be _used._" She pressed her lips together. "My skills are all about using the target's own strength against them. Bruce is a force of nature; his strength can't be turned. It will always, _always_ be used for self-preservation. And that's not a bad thing. It frightens me, but if you're going to trust someone, you could do worse."

"Are you going to be good with that?" he asks, frowning into his cocoa.

"I won't let him stop me," she says. "Being afraid of him is my problem and I can't hide behind this. That would be the surest way of being compromised."

Clint nods. "It's the same with Loki, I guess. None of this is your problem to fix. You respect Tony, no matter how much the two of you play the insult game. And Loki? Joshua? You vouched for him first. Breaking free of what's expected of you is something you can relate to. So you're waiting for me. You resent him because of me. Because I needed you to. Am I right?"

She inclines her head. Then she looks at him for a minute before she says, "You don't have to let this go."

"But I want to."

She listens.

"This is eating up my life and running isn't going to help."

"What do you need?"

"I don't know," Clint says. "Just time, I think. But I'm impatient."

She smiles. "Sometimes. Not when it's important."

"You don't have to keep hating him just because I can't relax around him. that's my thing to deal with."

She nods reluctantly. "Then how about this. We watch each other's backs, but we don't defend each other from every scratch. Not anymore."

Clint doesn't know what this is going to mean for them, but he hopes things will get better. He hopes they don't need to use each other as crutches anymore. He hopes that the next time one of them falls, the other will still be there.

* * *

Terror. Cold terror, the kind she is not used to feeling because there is always a way out of every situation - she can manipulate anybody. Anybody but these forces of nature who will not be turned aside from their rage for anything.

She's cornered. Flux's uneven body looms over her, and his huge fist draws back to strike. Clint's voice is in her ear, telling her he's coming, but it's not gonna be in time -

An arrow hits with a soft _thwap_, an injector, but she knows very well that most sedatives won't work on gamma monsters. She braces for the blow.

But Flux croaks, falling in on himself, shrinking down to Benjamin Tibbits, and that she can deal with - he looks at her in a desperate way that she recognizes very well, that she can use, and she is back in control again.

* * *

She's in medical when she lets herself feel the terror again, just a little sliver of it, because Clint is there and she's allowed to take a breath.

"How'd you do it? How'd you take him down?" she asks.

Clint takes out a handful of arrowheads, silver with blue markings and a blue plastic cap over their tips. He runs his thumb over the letters on one of them. MRB.

"Bruce gave me these, but he swore me to secrecy. Said the research he took these from might still be out there, and the man who did the first trials had a lot of his blood. He doesn't want anyone to be able to trace it back and find that research. So I swore, but I was thinkin' of telling you anyway." Clint looks vaguely guilty as he says this, and Natasha can't be sure what about, the keeping it from her or the almost not. Probably both.

"You were there," she says. "You were there to catch me, and that's what counts. This is us. This is our new thing."

He looks her in the eyes, hard, to see if she's really all right with this. The tiny frown between her eyebrows, the tiny smile at the corner of her mouth, both say, 'Hey. I'm not fragile. We've dealt with it, now let's move on.' So he does.

He smirks at her and says, "Don't laze around for too long. Peter's an annoying as hell sparring partner. Haven't got a hit in on him yet."

"And you won't get one on me, either, when I'm back in the ring tomorrow," she answers, and yes, it's a challenge. He's not worried about her any more.

And even though he's got a lot of shit to deal with, he's not worried about himself anymore either. He's gonna take his jump, and if he doesn't make his mark, Nat will be there to catch him.

Every time.


End file.
